John Mitton

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Barrister John Mitton, called 2003 (Middle Temple), faced charges arising from having issued legal proceedings on his client's behalf and then giving the impression that proceedings/hearing dates were ongoing when they were not, without telling his client (Mr Wrighton) the true position. The Tribunal expressly found dishonesty proven on Charge 1, applying the two-stage test (Mr Wrighton's belief and Mr Mitton's state of mind), based on the email flow and oral evidence. Charge 2 followed and was found proven. The Tribunal did not need to determine the integrity alternative as dishonesty was found. Sanction was disbarment on both charges concurrently, with immediate suspension of the practising certificate, plus £90 witness costs payable within 28 days.

Duties found breached:

• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Premeditation
• Persistent conduct over a lengthy period of time
• Element of dishonesty

Mitigating factors:

• No prior complaints / has been working
• Positive reference from Chambers
• Under significant personal pressure at the time
• Admission to the SRA of some form of lack of integrity